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Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
The Hero Reborn?
Representations of Achilles in
Early- Modern Greek Verse
Literature
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras'
The almost immortal son of Thetis and Peleus was extolled in the
Homeric epics for his prowess and bravery, strength, speediness in battle
and in general for his heroic deeds during the Trojan War. He was also
noted for his highly demonstrative character, which is seen in his brooding
anger from the very beginning in the Iliad, and his extreme reaction to the
death of his dear companion Patroklos. As the Homeric myths evolved
through the ages, so did the story of Achilles; among other things he came
to be known as a tragic "lover" of Polyxeni. These are some of the
principal aspects of Achilles' life and personality used by writers of the
period we are examining, who allude to them according to the needs of
their story.
University of New South Wales
Historical and mythological figures from different periods and
backgrounds, together with biblical ones, make their appearance in a
significant number of medieval works as exempla - a common feature in
Byzantine as well as early modem Greek literature. Their names are often
used by writers in similes and other figures of speech to highlight the
deeds, accomplishments, reactions or personality traits of a character, and
it is assumed that the audience/readers are familiar with what they signify.
In this paper I will focus solely on the Homeric hero Achilles,
investigating what he represents to the medieval Greek world in works that
use him as an exemplum or in a similar manner. 2
1 This study is tiny part of a very large project entitled "Med1eval Worlds: Reference and Allusion in
Early Modern Greek Literature (II OO-I700)", which commenced in 2003 at the University of New South
Wales, with the assistance of two grants by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Its principal aims are:
a) to create an electronic encyclopaedic dictionary of all proper names that appear in the corpus of
vernacular verse literature of this period, including their variants and synonyms, and b) to produce a series
of studies on the topic of proper names, which will draw upon the project's rich database, with the
collaboration of other international scholars. The project's other chief investigator is Alfred Vincent,
whose interest in the topic is manifested in recent publications, including those on Stavrinos, Palamidis
and Matthew of Myra. I would like to thank him for his valuable comments on various aspects of this
~aper.
- Achilles also appears as a main character in several works that are translations, paraphrases or
adaptations of the Homeric epics or derive from other sources on the Trojan War from the classical and
post-classical tradition, both Greek and Latin, as well as the Western medieval vernacular tradition (e.g. in
K. Ermoniakos, Iliad (24 books), the anonymous War ofTruy, a translation/adaptation of the twelvethcentury French novel by Benoit de Sainte-Maure (ed by M. Papathomopoulos & E. Jeffreys, Athens
Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece 1996); in the also anonymous Byzantine lliad(ed. by
L. N0rgaard and 0. L. Smith, Copenhagen: Opuscula graecolatina 5, I975); in Nikolaos Loukanis'
Homer's Iliad and The Fall of Troy published in I529 in Venice (a photostat reprint of this edition with an
mtroduction by Frances Walton was published by the Gennadeios Library, Athens 1979). Achilles is also
the protagonist in a Jove romance, the Achtlletd, in which his connection with the classical hero is
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, "The Hero Reborn? Representations of Achilles in
Early Modem Greek Verse Literature", Culture & Memory. Special Issue of
Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand), 2006: 220-233.
I. The brave warrior
Achilles' prowess and bravery is alluded to mostly in works dealing with
historical or quasi-historical figures, for he stands as an ideal example or
rather as an archetype of male achievement in warfare. Thus we notice that
any reference made to his name enhances simultaneously a character's
actions. In the mid-fifteenth century version of the story of general
Belisarius (r), comparison to the ancient hero is reserved for three young
men. 3 The first occurrence is during Belisarius' expedition to the island of
Englitera. 4 The Byzantine army has successfully taken over all of the
island, but they find it difficult to conquer its capital. Everyone is
disheartened, except for two young soldiers of humble background, the
brothers Alexios and Petraliphis. They save the day by leading a renewed
attack and entering the castle. The poet honours them by describing their
action as that of a "second Achilles" (ll. 373-4). More importantly, the poet
seizes the opportunity to attest to the cowardice of lliembers of the
aristocracy, on whom all versions of the Belisariad make negative
comments.
, superficial. The romance survives in three versions (N, L, 0), and presents the hero as a medieval knight
whose life is consumed by his passion for an enemy king's daughter, whom he later marries. The work
~ends with Achilles' death due to sadness after his beloved wife's premature death. In version N, however,
_ the story continues with Achilles' participation in the Trojan War, where he is treacherously killed by
~ Paris. See: 0. L. Smith, The Byzantine Achilleid The Naples verston, edited and prepared for publication
by P. A. Agapitos and Karen Hult, Vienna: Wiener Byzantinistische Studien 22, Verlag der
Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaftern, 1999.)
'~'A critical edition of all four versions was published by W. F. Bakker & A. F. van Gernert, Iutop!a lOU
" Butaaplou. Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, Athens 1988.
~ 4 According to the editors, the expedition presented here is really associated with Belisarius' war against
the Vandals; see Bakker & van Gernert, Iutop!a lOU BEAtaapiou, pp. 25-28. For the choice of the name
~ Alexios there have been var1ous suggestions, Bakker and van Gernert suggest that for Belisarius' son the
adaptor was inspired by general Alexios Strategopoulos, who in I26I recovered Constantinople from
_ W~ste~ rule (see: D. Nicol, The last centuries ofByzantium 1261-1453, (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
Uruvers1ty Press, 2002), pp. 34-35). For the other young man the editors conjecture that he was named
" after Alexios Komnenos (Imop!a lOU BEA.taapiou, p. 43).
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Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
The other occurrence is when the son of Belisarius, also called Alexios,
is about to take a leading military role in an expedition to Persia.5 The
general, incapacitated by his blindness, instructs his son on how to carry
out a successful operation. He points out the importance of the expedition,
and charges him:
and to bring honour to the emperor, my son, and to become
as famous as Achilles; to bring back renown to the city of
Constantine, joy and great glory to your fatherland, and
some small comfort too to me, your father, and some degree
of respite to your mother. (H. 789-94)
We notice here that Belisarius, despite his unjust punishment, has not lost
his integrity as a soldier and faithful subject to Justinian. As a father, his
words bring to our mind how Achilles' father had charged his son when
departing for Troy: "always to be bravest and preeminent above all". 6 A
political message underlies Belisarius' advice, echoing the period in which
this version was written: when Constantinople is no longer a great city.
Later on the poet will attribute this to the lack of people like Belisarius (11.
964-5). Two other versions (c, L) merely note that Belisarius advised his
son, while the third (N2) does not even have this information.
Alexios' war against the Persians is a successful one; we are told that
his conduct in the battlefield is that of a skilled and fearless warrior (II.
819-21). Hence a triumphal reception awaits him on his return to
Constantinople. His father's wishes come true: the emperor receives
Alexios as a "new Achilles" (1. 842) - a description also used for Michael
the Brave, as we will see - and, ironically, further honours him with the
title of "new Belisarius" (1. 844). The message is clear: the general's
attributes were passed on to his son, who, it is assumed, will continue his
legacy- though one might wonder whether the son's fate is going to be the
same as his father's.
The comparison of a medieval hero to Achilles is not restricted to
Greeks; if not an enemy, any brave man could be measured up to the
Homeric hero. In 1600, the Wallachian voivode Mihai Viteazul (best
known as Michael the Brave) united the Romanian-speaking provinces of
Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania; he showed himself able to defeat
Turkish armies, and was seen by the Greeks as their possible liberator, but
was assassinated by a fellow general in 1601. Michael is compared to
Achilles in two works: the seventeenth-century verse chronicles by
In version r (as well as in Limenitis'), the expedition to Persia has been recognised as a "copy" of the
previous one; since Belisarius is blinded, the redactor brings in his son Alexios. The son, in other words,
is Belisarius' double. See Bakker & van Gernert, l<nopia tou BsA.tcraplou. pp. 42-43.
6 Ilrad. Book 11.784.
5
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Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
Georgios Palamidis and the vestiary Stavrinos. As Vincent's recent study
has shown, Michael had already become a folk hero, a "legend", a few
years after his death. 7 In his prologue "To the readers", Palamidis, a writer
with a broad knowledge of classical literature, places Michael amongst the
greatest heroes of all times, seeing him as summing up all their
distinguishing traits. 8 These are all men who fought for their people and/or
fatherland. Michael, to be precise, risked his life for the Christians as
Moses did for the Israelites (ll. 33-4); in exploits he was like Alexander (11.
35-6); he was as patriotic as Hector (11. 39-40)9 and brave as Achilles. But,
according to Palamidis, Michael outdid the Homeric hero in bravery,
because, if Achilles was feared for his bravery by the people of Troy,
Michael was feared by many more:
just like Achilles, whose prowess terrified the Trojans and
made them blanch with fear. But Michael terrified not just
one kingdom, but Turks, Hungarians, Poles and Germans
too. (II. 41-44)
In Stavrinos' chronicle, written soon after the death of Michael (1602), 10
the hero, after a decisive victory against the Ottomans at the Giurgiu bridge
on the Danube, gains great fame and is presented as a "new Achilles", as
the son of Belisarius was. 11 In this episode, the presentation of Michael as
a "new Achilles" is not intended solely to praise him. The name is
incorporated into a passage referring to the Turks' predicament, namely
their fear of confronting Michael openly, and to the Sultan's idea of how to
entice him into a trap. I do not believe that this is a mere coincidence:
Stavrinos in this passage suggests that there are significant similarities
between the two men. First alluding to the effects of their anger and then to
their death by treachery. The relevant passage is as follows:
and the Turks were terrified to quarrel with him and did not
say anything so as not to make him angry, but the sultan
pondered long and bitterly how the new Achilles could be
defeated. (Il. 425-8)
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Greek shores and
islands had suffered immensely from Muslim and Christian pirate raids.
This is the topic of a historical poem from the early sixteenth century
7
A. Vincent, "From life to legend: the chronicles ofStavrinos and Palamidis on Michael the Brave".
Thesaurismata, no. 25 (1995), pp. 165-238. This excellent study offers also a detailed comparison of
Palamedis' and Stavrinos' works and their mythologising of MichaeL
'See: Emile Legrand (ed.), Bibliotheque Grecque Vulgaire 2 (Paris, 1881), pp. 183-230.
9 Hector's love for his people is shown in his response to the seer Polydamas' attempts to stop him from
r,oing into battle, because of a bad omen in a sacrifice (I/ tad, Book 12.243).
0 See: Emile Legrand (ed.), Recueil de poemes historiques en grec vulgaire (Paris 1877), pp 16-127.
11 For an outline of events during Michael's reign see: Vincent, "From life to legend", Appendix B, pp.
218-219.
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modem Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 223
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
(1528), the Story of Tagiapiera by the Corfiot poet Iakovos Trivolis.
Trivolis describes the heroic deeds of a Venetian captain, Count Giovanni
Antonio Tagliapietra, who in 1520 saved Kerkyra from disaster at the
hands of Turkish and Moorish pirates. Like Palamidis, Trivolis in his
introductory lines praises the captain who saved his homeland by
presenting him as outstanding both in physical appearance and in prowess
(ll. 1-44 ). In the following passage the poet suggests that Tagiapiera had
already become a legend in Kerkyra when he, Trivolis, undertook to record
his accomplishments. The choice of exempla is indeed interesting, as it
combines Trojan and Western medieval epic heroes:
I swear by the Virgin, the Christians' mediator, and by
Saint Nicholas, our helper in all things, and by the Great
Spyridon too, that I have heard people saying: "He is better
than Achilles and the valiant Ajax! What is Troy's Hector
or that Rinaldo {compared with him]? Or the famous
Orlando, distinguished among them all? (IL 31-42) 1
Achilles as an exemplum of bravery and warlike skills is repeatedly
exploited in another lengthy historical poem from the sixteenth century,
"The exploits of Merkourios Bouas" by the Zantian Tzanes Koronaios. 13
Bouas was born in Nafplion in 1478 (?),perhaps of Albanian background;
he began his career as a stradioto (mercenary), following his father's
footsteps, and later as a commander of a stradioti unit. 14 He offered his
services to the Venetians and other Western leaders during all phases of
the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century "international" war in Italy.
He was a fine soldier and enjoyed many great honours and riches. He died
in 1542 in Italy where he lived almost all his life, and was buried in the
church of Santa Maria Maggiore in the city of Treviso.
Throughout this poem Koronaios demonstrates a good knowledge of
Homer and other literature from antiquity, making brief references to
distinct details of the Homeric heroes and the Trojan War. In the first lines
the writer explains that he sees it as his obligation to record the deeds of
the man and save him from oblivion, just as writers in the past have
12 Rinaldo and Orlando are related to the epic cycle of Charlemagne. Trivo!is must have read works by
Boiardo or other earlier writers
13 The poem was written in 1519 and consists of 5000 lines. The only modern edition is that by
Konstantinos Sathas in 1867 (E;til1JVllaX avtr<oow, vol. I, Athens). A photostatic reprint ofthis edition
with an introductory study and an index by Fani Mavroidi was published in 1982 by Karavias.ln regards
to the poet's identity, there is no substantiated information, apart from that he was from Zante (see
Mavroidi's introduction, pp. 12-14).
14 The stradwti were a special body of Greek and Greek-speaking professional soldiers in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, employed especially by the Venetians. They fonned companies under their own
commander (capo). For an account of their role as well as relevant bibliography see Chryssa Maltezou,
"Stradiotl"· 01 trpoamr~ twvauvopwv, Athens, 2003.
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modem Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 224
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
preserved the memory of their heroes. 15 The writers Koronaios alludes to
are from antiquity, implying that his contemporaries are no longer
interested in the writing of epic history:
In olden times, on every holiday, people would write at
length of wars and exploits. Now we can find these deeds
that they recorded, and so we know what each of them
achieved. We know about Hector and Achilles too, the
wondrous Alexander, the great king, about the sack of Troy,
the Paladins; and all the valiant men of East and West. (p.
3.15-22) 16
Koroneos, in the same manner as other writers, presents Bouas' bravery
and warlike skills as equal to those of Achilles or even surpassing
Achilles. 17 In a work, however, where battle scenes are central and the hero
is a warrior, references to Achilles are not surprising and not restricted to
Bouas. 18 For example, Koraneos dedicates a chapter (12) to events that
took place in Bavaria in 1509. This is when the Emperor Maximilian,
whom Bouas was serving, marched against the recently elected duke of
· Bavaria in order to place his own nephew on the ducal throne. The
emperor gathers men whose conduct in the battlefield was like that of
Achilles and Hector. 19 But it is Bouas who once again brings the operation
to a successful end. The most interesting passage, however, is the account
of a battle that took place in 1499 at Alessandria della Paglia (in the
Piedmont region). This is when King Louis XII (1462-1515) came with
· · Venetian assistance to fight the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza (14521508) in order to gain control of the duchy. Although Sforza was defeated
due to one of his garrison commanders' cowardice, and was forced to seek
refuge at Maximilian's court, Bouas, who was serving Sforza, caused many
casualties to the opposite side. A river near Alessandria (perhaps the river
Tanaro) is filled up with dead bodies to a point where the writer has the
river complaining:
Oh glorious 111erkourios, halt your sword, because for your
honour you have turned me all to blood, you have changed
my nature, everyone detests me. Even dumb beasts refuse to
drink my water. Not even Skamander suffered thus, I think,
from Achilles, and no other river shall. (p. 38.5-1 0)
15 lt has been suggested that Koronaios was either himself a stradwto or that he had been in Bouas'
service (Mavroidi, p. 14).
16 Cf. R. M. Dawkins (ed.), Leontios Machairas, Recital concerning the Sweet Land of Cyprus entitled
'Chromcle ', vol. 1 (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1932), §2
17 "Merkourios Bouas", p. 21.25, p. 40.6, p. 96 17, p. 109.2, p. 149.15, for example.
18 Bouas himself on one occasion tells the Emperor Maximilian that his plan to capture the city ofPadova
could not succeed even if"all of his anny was like Achilles" ("Merkourios Bouas", p. 98.24).
19 "Merkourios Bouas", p.89.l2
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 225
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
The river's complaint is almost identical to that of Skamander in the Iliad's
Book 21; Achilles, after Patroklos' death, is out of control and commits all
kind of brutalities, including the dragging of Hektor's corpse around the
walls of Troy and the killing of Asteropaios, the son of a river god.
Skamander is very upset with the Greek warrior and complains that he is
choking with the Trojans' and their allies' dead bodies?0 Unlike Homer's
hero who pays no attention to Skamander, Koronaios' is saddened by
these' words and ceases fighting. 21
Achilles as an exemplum of bravery became a stereotype and is in
common use, even by writers with limited education. For example, in his
lengthy poem on the Cretan war between Venice and the Turks (16451669), Marinos Tzanes Bounialis makes two general references to Achilles
in order to praise the high-ranking Venetians Lazzaro Mocenigo 22 and
Caterin Cornaro, general of Dalmatia, who was killed during the war, in
1668. 23 The poet compares the latter's valour to Achilles, Samson and the
Roman god of war. 24 There is nothing unusual in the mentioning of
Achilles and Samson together - they mostly appear in moralising poetry but, as far as I am aware, the presence of the god Mars as well is not
typical.
Characters in Cretan plays also refer to Achilles' bravery to describe
someone's heroic deeds. Karpoforos does this in Georgios Chortatsis'
tragedy Erofili, referring to his friend Panaretos' heroism during an
invasion by the Persians.25 In Markantonios Foskolos' comedy
Fortounatos, the cowardly captain Tzavarlas, who constantly talks about
his imaginary escapades, compares himself on two occasions to legendary
heroes, including Achilles/ 6 and boasts that if Virgil and Homer and other
great "teachers" who wrote about Achilles' bravery were alive, they would
have been incapable of writing about his achievementsY Obviously, in
this case Tzavarlas' boastings contribute to the work's verbal humour.
21
Jlwd Book 21 ,214-221.
For other references to Achilles see "Merkourios Bouas", p. 13 1.25-8, p 13 5.14.
22
§371.24.
20
23
s. Alexiou and M. Aposkiti (eds.), Mapivov r;a w: MtrovvtaJ.f! mv PsBv,u vaiov. 0 Kp1JnK6r;
II6J.q.ux; (!645-!669) (Athens· Stigm1, 1995).
24
§475.8.
''A 355-8. SeeS. Aiexiou & M. Aposkiti (eds.), EpcJJipiA.IJ, rpaywMa TewpyioB Xoprar<JI), Stigmi, Athens
2001.
26 B 56-8
27 D 253-5. See A. Vincent (ed.), MapKov A vrrb vwv <P6oxoJ.ov, <Poprovvara;, Etatpio; Kp!]ttKroV
IcrtoptKroV M&AStrov. Ipaxi\to 1980).
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 226
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
~II.
The ephemeral nature of human life
·In the epilogue of a seventeenth century anonymous lament for Michael
1he Brave, a distorted short version of Stavrinos' chronicle, Achilles is no
longer an object of admiration. 28 The writer presents a folkloric description
of Michael's death as a direct combat with Charos (i.e. Death personified)
in a broad meadow, and then, in a direct address to the possessors of
worldly power, the writer concludes with the moral message that nobody
'can escape death (a common motif in this literature). He states that even
heroes like Alexander and Achilles are now locked in the world of bitter
:Hades. Thus their superhuman prowess and reputation were only of
ephemeral worth. This kind of epilogue functions as an anti-climax;
turning the heroic spirit of the work into a moralizing one:
Oh emperors, valiant kings, do not be boastful, for many
are now imprisoned in bitter Hades. Alexander is there and
even great Achilles, whom all the world and every emperor
feared. (H. 625-8)29
III. Exemplum of friendship
Achilles' relationship with Patroklos acquired special importance after the
latter's death at the hands of Hector, and became a symbol of friendship.
Out of all of Achilles' uncontrollable reactions to the loss of his
companion, the one which seems to be remembered by one writer is that of
deep grief. This is in the late seventeenth-century historical poem on the
.death of the Athenian Michael Limbonas by the Cretan Antonios
Boumboulis. 30 Limbonas was a descendant of an old noble Athenian
family; he lived most of his life in Venice, where he had studied
commerce. He was a prominent figure in Venice's strong Greek
community and in 1661 was elected by its members as a guardian in its
brotherhood. 31 On his return to Athens he was seriously involved in civil
affairs. In particular, he had persistently complained to the authorities in
Constantinople that the Turks in Athens were discriminating against the
Greeks, and he managed to get some of their old privileges restored. 32 The
See: V. Doulavera, "AvrovfJfiO~ Spi]vo~ yta tov Slivaw tou Mtxai]i\ tau fsvvaiou" Thesaurismata
28 (1998), pp. 255-274.
·. 2•The same message appears also in Stavrinos' chronicle (II 1269-76), although there Achilles' name is
.,.. not mentioned; instead we find those of Alexander. Belisarius, Solomon and Samson.
• 30 See Legrand, B1hliotheque Grecque Vulgaire 2, pp. 123-147.
· 31 Legrand, Bibliotheque Grecque Vulgaire 2, p. lxix.
"From 1610 the citizens of Athens, in comparison to the other Greeks in Turkish occupied regions,
. ef\joyed some liberties thanks to the beautiful Athenian Vasiliki, who was married to the sultan Ahmed !;
see W. Miller, "Greece underthe Turks, 1571-1684", The English Hzstorical Revzew, 19 (1904), pp 657. 668. Miller mentions these events, and considers Limbonas as a martyr (p. 660).
·: 28
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Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
enraged Athenian Turks had Limbonas murdered on 23 December 1678
tearing him into pieces. Limbonas' murder shocked the Athenians, but i~
would probably have not been recorded if Michael Peroulis, a friend and
compatriot of the victim, had not provided details to the author.
Boumboulis, who was serving as a priest in the church of Saint George in
Venice, must have known Limbonas and hence took a personal interest.
The main text is written in the manner of a lament by the city of Athens.
Before and after this, the printed edition contains two other shorter poems
addressed to Peroulis and to the people of Athens respectively. In the first
poem the writer consoles Peroulis on the loss of his friend; the topic leads
Boumboulis to incorporate exempla of famous friends, such as the
legendary Damon and Phintias and the mythical Nisos and Euryalos. His
best exemplum for this situation, which he develops in two lines, is kept till
last: Peroulis laments Limbonas as Achilles wept for Patroklos. Although
the two ancient warriors and the two Athenian civilians are worlds apart,
assassination and grief bring them close:
I find you confused and bitter, as if lost, because you have
lost your dearest Limbonas. Your friendship was like Nisos
and Euryalos, or Phintias and Damon, his great friend.
Hence you have reason to be deeply saddened, to grieve for
him, to be inconsolable, just as Achilles did with great
lament above the corpse of the wretched Patroklos. (II. 3340)
IV. The hero as a victim of his love for a woman
In the life of such a passionate man as Achilles there must have been room
for a passionate love for a woman, so the theme of his ghost demanding the
sacrifice of Priam's daughter Polyxeni was eventually developed into a
fully-fledged uncontrollable love, providing a more satisfactory
explanation for her sacrifice. Briefly, the story that circulates during the
period we are examining is: Achilles sees the beautiful Trojan princess on
the anniversary of Hector's death and immediately falls in love with her.
He suffers, knowing that Polyxeni would not reciprocate the feelings of her
brother's killer. In a message to Hecuba, Achilles discloses his intentions
to stop fighting the Trojans and to marry her daughter. Priam replies that
unless all the Greeks cease hostilities and leave Troy, he will not consent
to this. Achilles fails to convince the other Greek leaders, but he keeps his
word and, with the Myrmidons, stays away from the battlefield. This
results in serious losses and almost in total defeat for the Greeks.
Eventually, Achilles can no longer bear the shame the Trojans caused to
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modem Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 228
the Greeks and resumes his part in the war, knowing that he has lost every
chance of marrying Polyxeni. Hecuba conspires with Paris and sends
Achilles a message to meet Polyxeni at Apollo's temple. The lovesick
warrior without much thought goes to the meeting with his friend
Archilochos, where they are both killed by Paris.
Stavrinos' chronicle, as already mentioned, appears to allude to
Achilles' death by treachery. Death by treachery is a popular topic in
medieval literature - it is the only possible way for a great man to die. It is
the type of topic that feeds the misogynistic views of writers and their
conception of the destructive force of love, and is alluded to mostly in
works with moralising content. In an anonymous poem (written in the style
of an alphabet), found in a sixteenth-century manuscript, the subject is the
evil nature of women, the cause of men's destruction. 33 The poem is a
catalogue of exempla of names of infamous women, mainly from the Old
Testament and the Trojan saga, 34 beginning with the very obvious one:
.Eve. 35 The poet dedicates a few lines to each couple, summarising each
time how the male's life was ruined by the female. Achilles' death is
attributed to Hecuba's seeking revenge for the death of Hector. She is the
woman who masterminded "the admirable man Achilles'" murder36 , using
Polixeni as bait and Paris and Deiphobos as her executioners. The ancient
hero is presented in the position of the victim. We note that, on Paris and
Deiphobos, who were directly involved in Achilles death, the writer makes
no judgement:
Hecuba seeks to avenge Hector through her sons, the fine
archers Paris and Deiphobos, and planned his death by
means of Polyxeni, she killed that admirable man Achilles.
(II. 21-4)
A slight variation of the story in the previous exemplum appears in the
early fifteenth-century autobiographical work Questions and answers
between Stranger and Truth by the Cretan Leonardos Dellaportas. 37
Referring to his imprisonment (ca. 1403) for an illicit involvement with a
woman, the poet denies any wrongdoing and attributes it to slander. The
poem is written as a dialogue between a character called Stranger (that is,
the Poet) and a female figure, the personified Truth. In one episode, Truth
~3 The poem was edited by Eleni Kakoulidi (Nco&AA'JVl~<n Bp1/(Yr<&VTlh.U aA.(!ap 17 mpla, EmcrtfJ!lOVtKTJ
~1t!lt1]pl~ <f>tA.ocro~tKTJ~ 2:xoA.1]<; n~vemcrt1]!liOU ElecrcraA.ov(K1]<;, Pararthma 9 (1964), pp 110-112).
One other exemplum refers to the til fate of Constantine's son Crispus, murdered by Constantme' s wife
Fausta (II. 37-40).
JS ll. J-4.
16 1.24.
1
J A_recent critical edition of all Dellaportas' works by M. !. Manousakas (A&ompoov Nr&A.Aixn:6pra
· ~Oll/tJara (!403(141_1) (At.hens: Academy of Athens, 1995), pp. 205-328. Manousakas states (p. 61) that
he source for ttus eptsode ts the Synopsis Istorwn by Georgios Kedrinos.
·Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modem Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 229
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
has been telling the Stranger how women's cunning and love brought
about the destruction of famous men, including men of great wisdom such as philosophers. The Stranger asks her for a more precise example and ·
Truth provides two. One is the popular medieval comic story of how Virgil .
was made an object of public ridicule by the woman he loved when she
lured him into a basket she had let down from her window. 38 The other is
Achil~es' death throuJth treachery by Alex~~er (Pari~), who used Polyxeni .
as batt (ll. 1452-7). Although Polyxem ts not dtrectly accused, it is
implied that she is to blame, because it was with her that Achilles fell in
love. Truth concludes her advice to the Stranger with the following:
Learn this: there is no worse evil in this world than love
and a cunning woman. (II. 1460-1)
A reference to Achilles is made in another anonymous misogynistic
satirical text from the late fourteenth century, ironically entitled Account of
noble women and honoured ladies. 40 The subject is again the evil nature of
women and their destructive force, and like the two previous works it
contains a catalogue of exempla, beginning with Eve, presented openly as
the cause for man's mortality. The reader is guided through a series of
partial facts, which s/he is expected to accept unquestioningly as
authoritative information. After presenting Samson's destruction by the
deceitful Delilah, in two lines the writer invokes the names of Achilles,
Hector, Orlando and Rinaldo:
You too, most valiant Samson, come, you too, Delilah
whom you loved, how she deceived you! She stole your
strength together with your life, the wicked woman, she
blinded you, it's written. Come, fierce Orlando, valiant
Hector too, come, terrible Achilles, famed Rinaldo. (II. 16570)
The subject of the seventeenth-century tragedy Rodolinos by Ioannis
Andreas Troilos is also about love for a woman, friendship and disaster.
King Rodolinos is confessing to his elder counsellor Erminos that he is in
serious trouble, because he feels that he has betrayed his friend Trosilos'
trust by falling in love and making love to Aretousa - the woman he was
See Manousakas, pp. 90-91
Similarly, in Loukanis' summary of the events after the death of Hector, it is Priam who uses Polyxeni
as a bait; he sends her onto the walls to sing, to be seen by Achilles, who will fall in love with her. See
Nikolaos Loukanis, The !had ofHomer, Venice, 1526, with introduction by F R. Walton (Athens:
Gennadius Library-American School of Classical Studies, 1979).
40 The title in Greek is: .Evva9Jpwv '!'IVY evyevuaiJ v yvvauaiJ v rannpranU.r-tVv apzoV11cmrfJ v, seeK.
Krumbacher, "Ein vulgllrgriechische Weiberspiegel", Sitzungsbenchte der phil-phrlol. und hrstor. Klasse
der Konig/ (Munich: Bayer Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1905), pp. 335-433. See also: N. Panagiotakis,
"Le fonti italiane di un poema misogino cretese del tardo Quattrocento", Thesaurismata 25 (1995), pp.
124-142.
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
-supposed to marry and then hand over to Trosilos. 41 Erminos advises
-Rodolinos that what is happening to him is not extraordinary, pointing out
::fhat love and wrath are two passions that nobody has ever managed to
overcome. 42 He then rapidly alludes to well-known exempla of male
-victims of love, including Achilles. 43 There is no further information on
·how each of these males was trapped by love, and hence it is assumed that
·the seventeenth-century Cretan audience was aware of their stories. The
death (suicide) of all main characters in the end confirms how love robs
~-people of life.
V. Exemplum of swiftness _
In a seventeenth-century moralising poem by Georgios Rhetor of Ainos,
. the poet offers an entirely new way of alluding to the hero. He makes a
'rather peculiar connection between Homer's "swift-footed" Achilles and
the person who rushes after sinful pleasures.44 The popular Homeric
:expression of one of Achilles' physical traits has been turned into a
metaphor. Blumenfeld-Kosinski defines this type of reference as a
"redistribution of the function", which in this case, I believe, only educated
:readers could interpret: 45
How long, you rogue, will you be pursuing pleasure , and
running into sin like swift Achilles? (Il. 9-10)
VI. Demythologising the hero
In the following three works, the reference to Achilles differs significantly
from those presented so far. The emphasis is on Homer and his epic world,
of which Achilles is a part. For different reasons the seventeenth-century
religious drama writer Michael Vestarchis, a Chiot cleric, and the
anonymous poet of Digenis Akritas G, try to move away from the ancient
writer's influence and the shadow he casts over their intellectual world.
Vestarchis, in the prologue of the Resurrection of Christ, takes an
ironic stance towards Homer, appealing to God to send him the Muse
Kalliopi from Mount Helicon to inspire him as she did Homer, who boasts
38
39
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modem Greek Studzes (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 230
S. Alexiou & M. Aposkiti (ed.), Polio;l.!vo~ tpaycoli!a Icocivvl] Avliea Tpbt;\.ou (11"' auiJva), Stigmi,
Athens 1987.
42 Dellaportas also expresses the idea that humans cannot escape from love (1. 1430).
43 (A 341-50). The other heroes mentioned are: Alexander, Alkeides (=Herakles), Salamon (=king
Solomon) and once more Samson.
44 C. Nikas, :Et!xo1 rscopy!ou pi]topo~ Alvou KalsKiilvou tl]~ MsytUI]~ EKtdlJcrla, in: tllAap!GKo~ Studia
fs'aecaAntonio Garzya, Napoli 1987,447, (415-56).
5 R. Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Reading myth: class real mythology and its interpretation in medieval French
literature, Stanford University Press, California 1997, 10.
41
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 231
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn?
about it in the first line of his two epics. He then incorporates these lines in
their archaic linguistic form. 46 There is no doubt that he sees Homer's
epics as an important literary model. Unfortunately, the rest of the
prologue is missing, so we do not know how Vestarchis ends it. The same
writer, in the prologue of another religious drama on the Seven sons of
Maccabaeus, requests Apollo to send the Muses. 47 The structure of this
play is based on a conflict between two religious systems and traditions:
the "new" pagan Greek and the "old" monotheistic Israelite. Both sides use
a vast array of exempla to defend their religions. The Judeans, under the
old priest Eleazar and the seven sons of Maccabaeus, assert the importance
of their faith, drawing their strength from examples from the Old
Testament. On the other side, King Antiochos IV and his supporters are
trying to enforce their idolatrous ways. A character, presented as the
King's Teacher, advocates for the Olympian gods and attributes the
creation of the World to Zeus' offspring with mortal women. 48 Within this
context, Achilles is mentioned as an example of a great hero who is
nonetheless inferior to Herakles, the son of Akmnene and Zeus. 49 The third
Maccabaean son offers a completely opposite interpretation to that of the
Teacher. 5° There is no direct mention of Achilles in his speech, only to the
hero's mother, who is presented as a whore, 51 and to the killings and pains
of Troy due to the goddess Athena's "love for murders". 52
Finally, the poet of Digenis Akritas G, rather like Vestarchis in his
Resurrection of Christ, claims in his prologue that Digenis' father's deeds
are superior to Achilles' and Hector's. The area of conflict, however, is not
religion, but history and mythology, to which Homer's epics belong.
According to the poet, his own work is superior, as it presents real people
and facts, whereas Homer's is about false ones (\lft::UOsa53 ). Thus, in an
open challenge to Byzantine scholars, he almost instructs them to stop
being involved with the ancient writer's works, for them to look instead at
. tak en from the1r
. own h'1story. 54
stones
Vicky Panayotopoulou-Doulaveras, The Hero Reborn 7
Conclusion
Though I have not exhausted the entire corpus of early modem Greek
· verse literature, in the sample of works used here the Homeric hero is
. mostly represented as an ideal of martial prowess, bravery, valour and
friendship. In works with moralising, misogynistic content, he is seen as a
victim of love. But this does not diminish the hero, instead it cautions the
reader about the dangers of women and love, demonstrating that even great
men were defeated by them. In the anonymous lament on Michael the
Brave, it is merely his mortality which brought him down. Vestarchis and
the poet of Digenis G, however, display a different disposition towards the
Homeric hero's world. The fonner protests against the values the Homeric
epics represent; the latter is almost asking for their banning as a subject for
study. We also notice that it is quite normal for Achilles to be mentioned
alongside his most hated opponent Hector. The writers have no interest in
the "politics" of the hero's life. Achilles and Hector, just like other
mythological or historical figures used in the same manner, are stereotypes
of specific traits, and together they belong to the rich catalog of exempla of
appropriate ideals from all times. 55 There is also a close association
between Achilles and Samson, as they are both seen as tragic lovers of
enemy women. 56
(H. !6-7) See the critical edition by M. I. Manousakas and W. Puchner (Av6Kiiota <mxoupyf]ftm:a
BfTJO"KE8nKo1J 8eaxpou ~ou IZ" atrovu. Academy of Athens, Athens 2000).
4 (II. 65-6) See Manousakas & Puchner, Ibid, 137-199.
46
48
!!. 976-93
'9
50
ll. 1078-1119
51
1.1115-6
n. 992-3
11. 1108-9
53 see ll. 978-9
54 The passage has been thoroughly exammed in a recent study by Michel Lassithiotakis in relation to
other learned Byzantine writers, who deal with the same issue, as well as western medieval romances (see:
S. Kaklamanis- M. Paschalis (eds.), H rrp6crl.TJ'JI1] ~1]<; upxalffiti]Tct<; m:o Bul;avnv6 Kat VEOEAAl]V\KO
flU8un6pl]flll, Stigmi, Athens 2005, 49-72.)
52
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modern Greek Studtes (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 232
55
Achilles begins to lose his complexity from as early as the seventh century BCE, see K. Callen King's
ch. 2, "Classical visions of the Homeric warrior", Achilles Paradigms of the war hero from Homer to the
Middle Ages, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1987, 50·1 09.
See Callen King, 1bid, 203.
56
Culture & Memory. Special Issue of Modem Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) 2006: 233